


A Single Man

by Kojont



Category: The Green Mile (1999)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kojont/pseuds/Kojont
Summary: Four short snippets about Brutal's personal life.





	A Single Man

”Brutal.”

”Brutal!” A hard shove on Brutal’s shoulder.

The room was dark, so it clearly wasn’t morning yet. No good reasons to wake up. ”What?” he grunted, keeping his eyes closed.

”He’s doing it again. The damn dog.” James didn’t sound sleepy at all, he sounded pissed.

Brutal propped himself up on his elbows and listened. Sure enough he heard the dog’s loud and constant bark. “Yup. So he is”, Brutal answered and rubbed his eyes.

“Someone will call the cops sooner or later and they’ll shoot it for you”, James said coldly. They had argued about the dog over and over again, but Brutal had kept his head.

This time too he pushed the sheets off and got up. He fished a pair of pants from the floor and walked downstairs. James’ voice from the bedroom told him not to bring the dog in. Opening the kitchen door, Brutal was immediately greeted with a wide smile and a wagging tail. It got Brutal to smile every time.

“Heya Charlie”, Brutal said in quiet voice and bent over even before reaching the animal. He ruffled the big, gray mastiff from its neck and behind the ears. The dog kept wagging its tail and licked Brutal where ever it could reach. “Still don’t like the dark, huh? Come on”, he said and opened the carabiner which attached the dog to the chain link. He led the dog in through the kitchen door and let the dog loose. At once the dog took off towards the stairs and before Brutal could reach the first step, he could hear James shooing the dog off the bed.

“Really?” James stared at Brutal from the bed and didn’t look too pleased. Charlie the mastiff was taking up half of the bed.

Brutal shrugged and undressed his pants. “He’s unhappy out there.”

“I’m unhappy now? Does that count for nothing?” James asked.

Brutal smiled and climbed to the bed. With a snap of his fingers he ordered the dog down and with one jump Charlie obeyed. “It always counts”, Brutal reassured and leaned over James to kiss him deeply. James’ hands wound around Brutal’s wide shoulders and when Brutal pushed the sheets off him, James didn’t seem to remember whether there was a dog in the room or not.

**

Brutal wasn’t the most outspoken person out there, so it took James a few moments before he realized something was wrong. Only when the larger man didn’t utter any greeting or grant James even a glance, did James put down his law book and frown.

“Hi”, James said tentatively and waited.

Brutal seemed to snap out of his thoughts and lifted his eyes to James. “Hi.” He sounded hollow.

“Tell me about it”, James pleaded and kept his eyes on the man. Brutal could never hide his feelings, they were always displayed all over his face. It was one of the many reasons James loved the man. There were no secrets, no bullshit between them.

“They set Coffey’s date”, Brutal said. It sounded like it was Brutal himself who was going to be executed.

James did his best to keep calm. Brutal had told him about the man, about all the weird things happening around him and about his innocence. “When?”

Brutal opened his mouth, but closed it quickly. His eyes brimmed, but he blinked a few times furiously and took a deep breath. “In ten days.”

“What does Paul say?” James asked, as Paul Edgecomb was a man Brutal trusted with his life. James had, of course, met Paul on several occasions and genuinely liked the man. James had been introduced to Paul as Brutal’s distant second cousin and never had the man questioned their living arrangements. Paul was always nothing but polite and kind. Sometimes James wondered if Brutal had or had had feelings towards Paul, but even if that had been the case, there was no bitterness or awkwardness between the men.

“He says there’s nothing anyone can do. Not at this point.”

James wished he had some hidden wisdom to offer. It was plain to see Brutal was hurting more than possibly ever before. But even if he was a law student, he had nothing to say. If there had been a way, Paul would have known it. James stood up and walked to Brutal. He had to stand on his toes to reach up to hug the man properly and when Brutal returned the gesture, it felt like James would disappear inside the hug.

“Take some time to sit down with the others. Talk it through. Maybe you come up with something”, James said, his voice muffled by Brutal’s enormous frame.

**

On that day, Brutal came home early. Coffey had been the last prisoner on their block, so there was no one to guard now. Soon the cells would fill up again, but today no one was thinking about that.

Brutal walked in, patted Charlie on the head and headed straight upstairs. James interrupted his cooking, turned the stove off and climbed the first two steps. “Brutal?” he called, but there was no answer. James glanced at the food, then the top of the stairs and had a short inner battle with himself. Should he give Brutal space or was this the moment the man needed him the most?

Deciding to go with the second option, at least to start off with, James climbed the stairs. Brutal wasn’t in the bedroom. James stood at the doorway for a moment, before he heard it. A choked sob from the bathroom. Something collapsed inside James’ chest. Never, in all these years, had James heard Brutal cry. And even when James wanted to open the bathroom door and do his best to console the man, he didn’t know if he should. If Brutal had come here to be alone, James should honor his privacy. The sobs grew louder and James had to wipe his own eyes too. He swallowed hard and walked closer to the door.

“Brutal?” James called as gently as he could.

The sobs ended, but there was no answer for a while. Then a harsh sniffle. “I’m fine”, Brutal said, forcing his voice to sound harsher than it normally was.

“If you need something, anything, I’m here for you”, James said to the door.

Again, there was silence. James lifted his hand against the door frame, up near the header where he pictured Brutal’s cheek would have been. He pressed his lips tightly together and tried to come up with something better to say. Brutal was his whole life and he didn’t have anything to make the man feel even slightly better.

The door opened. Brutal stood there, as huge as ever, but his face flushed and tear streaked.

“I killed him”, Brutal choked, a tidal wave of panic starting to wash over him.

“Oh, honey…” James sobbed and did his best to hug the man.

“We…” Brutal managed, his whole body shaking. “We just sat him down and… We fucking called the roll. We just killed him!”

As Brutal’s legs gave out, there was nothing James could do, so he just slid to the floor with the man. He held Brutal the best he could and stroked his hair as the man bawled in his lap.

**

Jan and Paul had invited them over for a dinner. As usual, James had tried his best to skip it, but this time Brutal wouldn’t let it go.

“You’re invited. They want to see you. There’s nothing weird about it”, Brutal said, drying his short hair on a towel fresh out of a shower.

“Yeah. Nothing but us fucking”, James snorted, sitting on the edge of their bed, arms crossed.

Brutal smiled at him and cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not telling them, if you’re not.”

James rolled his eyes. “One of these times they will find out. This will not go unnoticed forever.”

“Paul’s a good man”, Brutal said, as if that had been the issue.

“It’s not about good men or bad men, what we’re doing is illegal”, James said. “You want Paul to be your supervisor or your warden?”

Brutal sighed and sat down next to James. The bed dipped severely with his weight and the springs let out a horrible screech. “It’s Paul and Jan and a dinner. If you manage to keep your willy in your pants, I think we’ll be fine.”

James fought against smiling, this was serious. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, to us.”

“Nothing bad will happen to us”, Brutal said, placed his hand on the back of James’ neck and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I will always make sure of that.”

 

At the dinner Paul shared Brutal the news. There were two spots open at the local boy’s home, a juvenile correction center.

“I don’t think I can step inside Cold Mountain again”, Paul admitted.

Jan and James remained quiet. Jan placed her hand on top of Paul’s. The gesture was small, but full of warmth. Paul locked eyes with his wife, placed his own hand on his wife’s and they shared a smile. James watched them and felt a sting of jealousy. That kind of small things were the ones he and Brutal would never share anywhere but the safety of their own home.

Brutal glanced at James, but both remained blank-faced. There was no room for their emotions here. Not even here.

“It could work”, Brutal said, lowering his eyes to his food. “I have to think about it. I’m not sure I’m that good with kids.”

“They would be lucky to have you”, James said.

Paul nodded vigorously and pointed his fork towards James. “He’s right. You’d be great.”

Brutal smiled vaguely at them both. “I’ll think about it.”


End file.
